Research Proposal

Research Proposal: Do Nurses in Nursing Homes provide Spiritual Care?

Do Nurses in Nursing Homes provide Spiritual Care?

Introduction

The nursing profession over time and times has been characterized as a service profession and patient care. That is why the health professional must show a high sense of commitment, loyalty, values and humanism in the implementation of care to every human requires it. As part of the care that all nurses should offer, is the spiritual care, essential and indispensable work on all care units, especially in critical care. All care provided in different service scenarios must be addressed to meet individual needs whether that man is in health or disease. This is why the nurse must apply different disciplines in the care, viewing the individual as a comprehensive biological, psychological, sociological, spiritual and holistic being. As beings created by God, we were created in his image and likeness. We also know that our being is composed of body, soul and spirit. (1st Thessalonians 5-23.)

Based on this premise it is important to define the term spirituality and the meaning of this concept as wide. The word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning breath and blow or has come to refer to that which gives life or essence of the human. This means what is in the center of all aspects of a person's life (Dombeck, 1995). Reed (1992) defines spirituality as part of the human being who seeks the meaning and purpose through connecting intrapersonal, interpersonal and transpersonal. Craven (2009) notes that spirituality it is a quality which transcends biopsychosocial nature of the individual. Macrae (1995) suggests that spirituality is anything that gives meaning to life. Furthermore, Burhardt (1993) states that spirituality is a religious belief or a relationship with a force superior creative force or a divine or infinite energy source. In essence spirituality is intimate and important phenomenon that is vital to the development of quality recovery in the patient.

Also a strength, motivation and search for the meaning of life. This is why spiritual care provided by the nurse should be one with a sense of responsibility, respect and dedication to the patient, especially if the patient is in the process of Death. Mc Sherry (1998) conducted a study that analyzed how 548 nurses perceived the spirituality and provided spiritual care in clinical practice (Blais & Hayes, 2011). The results indicated that the 71.4% identified in the patient's spiritual needs, but only 39.9% felt qualified to fill these needs. The reality faced in care settings is that often spiritual care is delegated to a priest, pastor, ministers and staff nurses often do not participate in it, either because they are not trained to provide care or do not have enough time to provide this care. It is too frequent nursing professionals ensure that they do not put too much emphasis on spiritual dimension of human nature (Calabria and Macrae 1994). For this reason the nurse should be trained to meet the spiritual needs of their patients, especially ...